A Step Ahead of Its Time

By

Karen Wilkin

May 27, 2013 5:35 p.m. ET

Washington

The first thing we see on entering "Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, 1909-1929: When Art Danced With Music," at the National Gallery, is a long, bell-sleeved robe encrusted with embroidery and beading. This lavish garment, we learn, was worn by the renowned Russian bass Fyodor Chaliapin when he played Boris Godunov in Modest Mussorgsky's eponymous opera, presented by Serge Diaghilev in his 1908 Saison Russe in Paris. In many ways, the spectacular robe is a perfect preamble to what follows: opulent,...